Spring biased dispensing closure



Nov. 12, 1968 w. DONOVAN 3,410,462

SPRING BIASED DISPENSING CLOSURE Filed April 18, 1967 INVENTOR. 1]131111151 1H. 1] cm uvun United States Patent 3,410,462 SPRINGBIASEDDISPENSING CLOSURE Donald W. Donovan, Glastonbury, Conn., assignor toMonsanto Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr.18, 1967, Ser. No. 631,821 8 Claims. (Cl. 222-516) ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE This invention relates to a dispensing closure andparticularly to a dispensing closure of two-piece construction whereinan inner cap portion is engaged so as to close the open end of acontainer and an outer cap portion is adapted to be in movable overlyingrelation therewith and wherein spring means are provided which normallybias an opening within the outer cap in staggered position in regard toan opening formed within the inner cap so as to present the closure in anormal, non-dispensing closed position.

Background of the invention This invention relates to a containerclosure and particularly a closure'which is normally biased to a closednon-dispensing position in regard to its container whereby relativerotational movement of an outer cap portion of the closure in regard toan inner cap portion temporarily places the closure in an opendispensing position.

Containers having closures which are normally biased in a closednon-dispensing position are known. It is, however, desirable with suchtype of closure to facilitate the opening thereof and ease ofmanipulative movement needed by the user of the container whereby he orshe may dispense the contents of the container using either one hand orboth hands. In many instances, prior art devices further fail to utilizeconstruction presenting components which were easily inter-connectedwith each other and capable of being manufactured through the use ofhigh speed forming techniques so as to reduce the cost of each closureto a minimum. It should be further recognized that prior art devices ofthis general type have commonly utilized separate spring members whichhave been separately formed from materials such as coil or strip steelor similar materials and which involve an additional assembly operationto operationally engage such with the component members of the closure.

Summary of the invention It is thus an object of the present inventionto overcome the above elicited shortcomings of prior art constructionsand to provide a novel closure of two-piece construction, the componentsof which may be readily assembled by high speed assembly techniques.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a containerclosure of novel construction wherein the individual component partsthereof are adapted for molding production by high speed, low-costtechniques such as injection molding from thermoplastic compositions.

Another object of the present invention is to present a containerclosure construction which is readily adapted for either double orsingle hand usage and wherein relative rotation of the manipulativeportion thereof in regard to the container in either rotationaldirection momentarily (so long as the opening force remains) places suchclosure in an open dispensing position relative to the container.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of the closureconstruction wherein relative rotational move ice ment of themanipulative portion thereof in either direction temporarily places theclosure in open dispensing position and wherein the force necessary forthe placement of the closure in such open dispensing position may be ofa differing intensity in each of the opposed opening positions.

These and other advantages of the present invention are accomplished bythe provision of :a two-piece container closure construction wherein anouter cap member is adapted for overlying position with regard to aninner cap member and wherein dispensing openings provided through thetop walls of such caps are held in normal entirely oliset relationshipto each other by cooperatively associated spring means providedexternally and internally of the respective inner and outer cap members.Such springs means are in the form of leaf-like extensions integral withthe separate cap members and exhibiting inherent flexible properties bymeans of the materials from which they are formed and/or the generalconfiguration thereof. Such leaf spring members resiliently engage eachother upon a limited rotation of the outer cap member relative to theinner cap member and accordingly continuously serve to bias said outercap memher to a normally closed position so as to prevent accidentaldischarge of the contents contained within the container. One specificembodiment of the invention utilizes a leaf-form spring member having abifurcated terminal portion adapted for the receipt of a singleleaf-form spring member which extends from one of the cap members so asto bias the outer cap member to a normally closed, nondispensingposition regardless of the direction of the relative rotational movementby which the outer cap is placed in open dispensing position.

Various other objects and features or advantages of the presentinvention over those of the prior art will appear from a considerationof the following drawings and written description.

Description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a partial perspective view ofthe closure and container of the present invention with parts brokenaway for clarity wherein the outer cap portion of the closure has beenshown in exploded relationship to the inner cap portion mounted upon theneck finish of the container.

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view of the container and closure shown inFIGURE 1 in assembled closed position,

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIGURE 2 andshows in particular the relationship of the dispensing openings of theouter and inner cap members,

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view of the container and closure shown inFIGURE 1 of the drawings and is similar to FIGURE 2 thereof except thatthe closure is shown in an open dispensing position relative to thecontainer, and

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIGURE 4 andshowing in particular the springlike biasing of the leaf-form membersextending respectively from the inner and outer cap members.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring to the drawings andmore particular FIG- URE 1 thereof, there is therein shown a container10 having an open end upon which a closure 12 is mounted. The particularconstruction of the open end of the container 10 has been shown as thatof a reduced neck configuration of a bottle type but it should bebrought out that any open end container configuration is anticipated.Closure 12 is in turn comprised of an outer cap member 14 and an innercap member 16. The inner cap member 16 is adapted for fixation to theOpen end of the container so as to form a major portion of a barrierwhich in combination with the outer cap member 14 normally forms aclosure seal or barrier past which the contents of the container may notnormally move.

The inner cap member 16 comprises a top wall portion 18 having adownwardly dependent peripheral skirt 20 having in turn an internalannular groove 22 with which a cooperating annular bead 24 of the outerwall portion of container open end is adapted for snap engagement. Itshould be brought out that other means by which the inner cap member maybe attached to the open end of the container 10 are contemplated andthat the particular embodiment herein indicated should not be consideredas limting except as defined in the appended claims. The top wallportion 18 is further provided with a pair of spaced openings 26 and 28which communicate directly to the interior of the container andaccordingly form part of the means by which the contents of thecontainer may be dispensed through the closure 12.

Preferably centrally of the top wall portion 18, a generally cylindricaloutwardly extending boss 30 is formed, which boss includes a top bearingsurface 32, and a trunnion member 34 upwardly extending therefrom. Theinner cap member 16 further includes spring means 36 which comprises aleaf-form member 38 which laterally outwardly extends from the boss 30as best shown in FIGURE 1 and which includes a bifurcated terminalconfiguration defining a pair of individual leaf-form members 40 and 42.

Turning now to the outer cap member 14, such comprises a top closurewall 44 having a peripheral skirt 46 downwardly dependent therefrom. Theskirt 46 is in turn of a vertical extent so as to provide means such asthe inwardly extending annular head 48 by which an outer cap member 14may be placed in engagement and in overlying position with the inner capmember 16. The top wall 44 is further provided with a bearing opening 50preferably centrally located thereof and adapated for receipt of thetrunnion 34 of the inner cap member. An opening 52, of a peripheralextent less than that of the space defined by the top wall portion ofthe inner cap member between the radially spaced openings 26 and 28thereof, is adapated to overlay such space and further defines theconfiguration of the outer cap member 14. The periphery of the opening52 includes a downwardly dependent side wall 54 of such a verticalextent and exhibiting a peripheral terminal surface 56 whereby sealingengagement is made with the top wall portion 18 of the inner cap member,such as shown best by FIGURE 2 of the drawings. Accordingly, it may beseen that outer cap member 14 is free to, at least partially as willhereinafter be evident, rotate relative to the inner cap 16 in overlyingrelationship therewith and wherein an alignment of the opening 52through the outer cap member with either of the openings 26 or 28 of theinner cap member will produce a composite opening through the entireclosure 12, so that the contents within the container may be dispensedtherethrough either by a squeeze action upon the container or inversionthereof depending upon the nature of the contents contained therein.

A further feature of the invention is that the closure 12 is normallybiased to a closed nondispensing position wherein the sidewalls 54 ofthe outer cap openings are in overlying sealing relationship within theperipheral portions of the space defined between the spaced openings 26,2 8 of the inner cap member, such as shown in FIG- URES 2 and 3 of thedrawings. Such action is accomplished through the interaction of thespring means 36 of the inner cap member 16 and spring means 58 providedinternally of the outer cap member 14. Spring means 58 preferably asshown in the drawings comprises a single leaf-form member 60. Suchleaf-form member 60 is adapated to inwardly extend from the innerperiphery of the downwardly extending skirt 46 of the outer cap member14 and is of an extent so as to be receivingly engaged by the bifurcateportion of the spring means 36 as shown in FIGURE 3.

Thus clockwise movement of the outer cap member as shown in thetransition between FIGURES 3 and 5 urgingly places the leaf-form member60 into resilient engagement with leaf-form member 40 whereupon theremoval of the twisting force from the outer cap member 14 permitscooperative spring means 36 and 58 to return the outer cap member 14 toits normally closed initial FIGURE 3 starting position.

The resiliency of the individual leaf-form members may be varied inaccordance with particular desirable end purposes such as by increasingthe thickness thereof or by the formation thereof with inherently moreor less flexible materials. Thus, in those cases wherein acompartmentalized container is utilized to store different materialssuch as tablets of aspirin and artificial sweetener respectively inseveral compartments thereof, individual leaf-form members 40 and 42 ofthe spring means 36 may be accordingly varied so as to e.g. necessitatea higher twisting force to be applied so as to place closure 12 in anaspirin tablet dispensing position. Furthermore, the leaf-form member 60should be modified to exhibit differing directional resiliency as by theplacement of stiffening members on one side thereof and accordingly isequally adapatable for dispensing of materials through the applicationof an unequal twisting force. Such a container will be recognized as ofenhanced utility in regard to the dispensing of products which in excesscould be considered dangerous e.g. for the dispensing of childrensproducts.

It is accordingly believed that preferred constructional means have beenset forth for accomplishing the desired objects of the present inventionand that the embodiments of such specific constructions should not betaken as solely limiting the invention as herein presented and asdefined by the appended claims. Accordingly, an embodiment encompassedby the claims is anticipated where one dispensing opening area throughthe inner cap is provided rather than two. Wherein such singledirectional dispensing action is desired the bifurcate form of thespring means 36 may be modified so as to present but a single leaf-formengageable member. A further modification which is intended to becovered by the present invention is the alternative mounting of thebifurcated spring means, when utilized, upon either the outer or theinner cap member respectively.

What is claimed is:

1. A two-piece dispensing closure adapted for attachment to an open endof a container for controlled dispensing of the contents thereof,comprising a one-piece inner cap member in direct communication with theinterior of said container and a one-piece outer cap member adapted tooverlie said inner cap member, said inner member fixedly attached tosaid container and having a top wall portion covering said open end ofthe container, said top wall having a pair of radially spaced openingstherethrou'gh, separate leaf spring means formed as an integral part ofeach of said inner and said outer cap members, said outer cap furtherprovided with an opening therethrough, said separate spring means beingoperatively associated so as to position peripheral portions of saidouter cap member opening above the space defined between said inner capmember openings and in sealing engagement therewith whereby rotationalmovement of said outer cap member relative to said inner cap memberaligns the openings of said cap members to a dispensing position againstthe action of said spring means which continually resilently urges saidouter cap member into said normally closed position.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said spring means comprises a firstleaf-form member integral with and extending radially outwardly fromsaid inner cap and a second leaf-form member integral with and extendingradially inwardly from said outer cap.

3. The structure as defined in claim 2 wherein one of said leaf-formmembers is of bifurcate terminal configuration distal from the capmember from which it extends and wherein the other of said leaf-formmembers is positioned between said biturcate.

4. The structure of claim 2 wherein said leaf-form extensions are ofdissimilar flexibility.

5. The structure as defined by claim 3 wherein the opposed sides of saidbifurcate portion are of dissimilar flexibility.

6. A dispensing closure adapated for attachment to an open end of acontainer for controlled dispensing of the contents thereof, comprisingan inner cap member adapted for attachment to the open end of acontainer and an outer cap member having a downwardly extendingperipheral skirt adapated for overlying attachment to said inner capmember, said outer cap member partially rotatable relative to said innercap member from an initial closed nondispensing position to an opendispensing position, said inner cap member having a top Wall portioncovering said container open end, said top Wall portion having agenerally centrally orientated upwardly extending boss member thereonserving to axially space said inner and outer cap members from eachother, said top Wall portion further being provided with a pair ofradially spaced openings therethrough, said outer cap member providedwith an opening therethrough, said outer cap opening normally orientatedin a closed nondispensing position above a top wall space definedbetween said inner cap openings, a first resilient spring means of aleaf-form configuration outwardly extending from the side of said bossdistal from said space and terminating short of said outer capdownwardly extending skirt and a second resilient spring means ofleaf-form con-figuration inwardly extending from the skirt of said outercap member into operative association with said first spring meanswhereby partial rotational movement of said. outer cap member relativeto said inner cap member aligns the openings of said cap members to anopen dispensing position and whereby said spring means continually urgessaid outer cap member to a normally closed nondispensing positionrelative said inner cap member wherein peripheral portions of said outercap opening are orientated entirely above said space and in sealingcontact therewith.

7. The structure as defined by claim 6 wherein one of said leaf-formextensions is of bifurcate terminal configuration distal from the capmember from which it extends and the other leaf-form extension ispositioned between said bifurcate.

8. The structure as defined by claim 7 wherein said bifurcate leaf-formextension is of a lesser flexibility than the other spring means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,104,457 7/1914 Weber l 2225161,154,518 9/1915 Kendall 222-516 2,636,649 4/1953 Corriveau 222516STANLEY H. TOLLBERG, Primary Examiner.

